A flashy Singapore building known to locals as the Gotham Building is already over the top, with an enormous lobby full of art. That’s why it is the perfect site for a new art museum curated and organized by a character just as flashy as the building he inhabits.
The first exhibit at the new museum takes a look at people’s relationship with sharks, including the controversial practice of killing the creatures solely for their fins to make shark fin soup. While the organizer admits that he loves the soup and it is served at many elegant functions, it has fallen out of favor because so many sharks are killed — the rest of their bodies wasted — to create the delicacy. He himself has stopped eating it, and the art exhibit is an investigation and treatment of all things shark. Most of the pieces in the exhibit are from the organizer’s personal collection, and a majority of them are created by Chinese artists. The organizer says he hopes the museum will be a welcoming place to view masterpieces by Singaporean artists in the near future.
Some of the works on hand are vivid and visceral. One installation includes a number of bright red floats, like one would see at a fishing wharf, suspended at different lengths from the ceiling. One could surmise that the floats represent the challenges and dangers that sharks and all sea creatures must navigate not only in nature, but with overfishing and the pollution of habitats by people. Another work of art features a round, orange eye, staring at the viewer and pushing them to revise their thinking about their sustainable practices.
Another interesting abstract sculpture takes on the loose shape of a shark, but real harpoons used in shark fishing construct the shape, which arches into the air, suspended from the floor. The organizer constructed this thought-provoking artwork himself, which reflects the importance of the theme to him. Another sculpture utilizes red dots to make the shape of a shark cruising underwater.
Some of the 2-D artworks are just as powerful. One shows an abstract view of a shark’s jaws, gaping open. The viewer might wonder if the shark is about to eat something, or if we are seeing something a little more sinister — a shark that has been killed for sport, garishly on display for people to ogle. Another artist takes this notion another step, rendering a childlike drawing of a shark weeping and begging not to be killed, emerging front simplistic, triangular waves to give its message.
Have you been looking for a way to express yourself further? Consider taking an art class via SGArtClass.com. This website brings together art teachers and students of art, offering a wide variety of classes for anyone to explore. Take a class on acrylic painting, assemblage art, video art, and many more genres.
To read more about the museum in the Gotham Building, go to http://thepeakmagazine.com.sg/interviews/parkview-square-gotham-building-new-museum/.